Speaker 1: Let me tell you a bit about the setup I
have here. First off, I've got two clocks in the office.
One of them is on the wall above my desk
and the other one is above the whiteboard in the
teaching area. I also have a poster above the desk
where I meet my students for their English lessons. Oh
and I keep a sweater over the back of my
chair to put over my shoulders when it gets too
cold in here. From the ac above and over, let's talk.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode seven eighty eight.
It's over and above. We can use both above and
over to describe the position of something which is in
a higher position than another thing. However, we use these
two prepositions differently. In this English lesson, I'm going to
show you how you can use above and over in
your everyday English conversations. First off, the general meaning of
both above and over is higher or higher than when
the sun is above the garden. The flowers look beautiful.
I could also say that when the sun is over
the garden, the flowers look beautiful. In both sentences, I'm
talking about the sun being at a higher level from
the garden, and when I do that, both above and
over can be used, but there are some particular situations
or contexts only above or only over can be used.
For example, we usually use over when one thing is
touching or covering something else, like when my dog Rosie
goes to sleep, I put a blanket over her. She
likes that. On the other hand, my other dog, Max
doesn't like anything over him at all. And it's cold
out these days, so I usually wear a sweater over
my shirt. That's nice and comfy. On the other hand,
we prefer to use above when one thing is not
touching or not covering something else, like on Independence Day
there is a fireworks display above the East River in
the city. Another big difference between above and over is
that we use over to show the movement when something
crosses another thing, like whenever the President comes to New York,
there are a lot of helicopters flying over the city.
When I make pasta, I like to pour the tomato
sauce over my spaghetti and meatballs deedlish. When it comes
to talking about age, amounts, and speed, we use over
and not above. Like here in New York you can't
buy alcohol unless you are over twenty one years old.
And when I got to the theater there were over
twenty five people waiting online to get in. And if
you drive here in New York, be careful when you
drive in a school zone. The police will stop you
if you drive over the speed limit. Next up, we
use above when we talk about things like height, rank,
or temperature. In other words, things that are measured vertically,
like did you know that Mount Fuji in Japan is
three thousand, seven hundred and seventy six meters above sea level?
Not too high, but not too low either. And in
the military, a kernel is above a major and a
general is above a kernel. Oh, and I have a
thermostat here, so when the temperature reaches twenty degrees above zero,
the heater comes on. Finally, we use above in documents
when we refer to something that came before, like on
the last page of a contract. It may say something like,
if you agree to the terms above, please sign your
name here. The terms above means whatever is written before
the signature part, even though that could be several pages beforehand.
Keep in mind the best way to remember vocabulary like
this and any other word or phrase in English is
to take that word or phrase, write it in a
sentence that's true for you or true in your world,
and then memorize your sentences. Hey, did you know You
can get more practice using your English when you join
my podcast Learner's study Group. There you can make new friends,
join us for live group lessons every week where we
practice these podcast lessons together. Plus you get access to
the pdf, transcript and audio download for every Happy English
podcast in the past and in the future. And on
top of that, each episode has exercises where you can
practice this English point with speaking and writing checked by me.
To learn more, just visit Myhappy English dot com and
choose podcast lesson seven eighty eight. Remember, learning another language
is not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm here
to help you on your journey.
Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Visit
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by leaving us a review. Get English, Get Happy, Happy English.